Surprising the kids

[MinnieTink]

I am just starting plans for another trip to WDW in September, and my DH and I want to surprise the kids. (DD 13, DD9 and DS2) We have been quite a few times, and the girls enjoy planning with me---for a while, then I just drive them nuts! My DH wants to wait til we are literally in the car, driving down, to tell them. We would tell them we were headed somewhere else, then spring it on them. It will also be a surprise to them when some of our neighbors are also down there at the same time. Anyone ever try something like this? How did they react? Any other ideas for surprising your kids? I'd love to hear your stories! TIA!!!!

 

[mkcvol]

Hello
My wife and I are doing the same thing with our boys. I am a CPA and we are surprising them with a trip for 4 days on April 16th. We leave at 7:30 at night by plane and want to surprise them in some way.
Any suggestions would be great.
thanks

 

[liznboys]

Yep! We did exactly that last summer. We had already been to WDW for a week in early June. But then in late July we ended up with some free time on our hands and decided to go back to WDW. We figured it would be a good time to surprise our boys as they would never guess we were going back having just been.

We did all the preparation and packing, loading the car without them knowing. Then on a Sunday morning we got them up a little early and told them we had to run an errand and it was a bit of a drive so we had to get going. They had no idea. About an hour into driving we couldn't keep the secret any longer. So I said to them, ok, we aren't running an errand, guess where we're going today? They guessed and guessed, all things that were close to home. Finally I told them WDW! They were so surprised and excited!!! They kept saying, "RIGHT NOW?? You mean we'll be IN WDW TONIGHT??!?!" LOL I don't think they believed it 100% until we started seeing the WDW signs! LOL It was very fun!

I think if you go fairly often (yearly or more) then you should totally surprise your kids at least once in their lifetime. It is different and exciting!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We are surprising the kids this time as well. I'm really torn because I have so many questions that I would like to ask them about what they would like to do. But, I'm just going to have to do my best!

I am considering making some type of video of dh and I telling them where we are going to Disney and playing it on the dvd player in the car while we are on our way to the airport.

 

[dis75ney]

We're surprising DS8 with our trip in June. DS loves getting mail from anyone, so our plan is to mail a letter/package from Mickey telling him that he will be going to Disney World. Thankfully, DS doesn't pay much attention to things like postmarks...

Since we are pulling DS out of school (for the last two days of school, thanks to stupid snow days that never happened ), we have to let him know a day or two before we leave because he'll need time to clean out his desk and locker, and being the ever-inquisitive one, he'll ask why he has to clean out before anyone else in class . Our goal is to have the mailman deliver the mail on the Monday before we leave (we leave on Wednesday)...

 

[shoney]

This is a bit OT, but we surprised our kids last year with a trip to Hershey at Christmas time. After they went to bed, we took Hershey kisses and arranged them in an arrow shape coming from their bedrooms, down the hall, to the bathroom. Then there was a big sign hanging on the shower door "Get Ready! We are going to Hershey". When the woke up and saw that, they were thrilled!

You could redo this with something "Mickey"...Just a thought! Surprises are fun...enjoy your trip!

 

[tzolkin]

We are surprising our kids as well.

We had our first trip last year and they really enjoyed the planning, so I was a bit worried about them missing out on that. We knew when we were there that we would go back. Since then, we talk about Disney all the time, watch the planning DVD, etc. so they're "planning"-- they just don't know when the trip is actually going to happen.

We told them we can't afford to do Disney right now, maybe in the fall but probably next spring. They think we are going to visit grandma in May-- conveniently in FL and south of Disney. They will have no idea until we pull into the resort. They've been helping me with packing and everything-- I just have to hide the Disney related items.

We're going to surprise them a second time when we have grandma hide in MK and meet up with us. (She's joining us several days into our trip.)

The only problem is the ridiculous excitement and suspense for DH & I. I caught him telling the baby a "secret" the other day.

 

[Dinder1]

Last spring, we surprised our kids (DS7, DD5, DS3) with a Disney trip. They had no idea we were even going anywhere. The day before we left, I was hiding packed suitcases in my closet!

We were leaving for the airport at about 4:30am, and were planning on putting them in the car asleep and telling them on the way there once they woke up. Well, they all woke up as we put them in the car, so we decided tell them right there in our driveway.

It was such a bust... They didn't even really react! We had been looking forward for months to excited screams and disbelief, and all we got was "Oh...." accompanied by yawns. Maybe they thought they were dreaming I have video of it (if I can figure out how, I'll post it). It's a really funny memory, but I would have done it a bit different!

So, my advice, make sure they're really, really awake before you tell them!

 

[SCHBR'smom]

My kids know that we are going to Disney sometime during the summer of 2010 (they prefer Star Wars Weekends), but they don't know exactly when. My oldest DD asked me to suprise her. She doesn't want me to tell her until the day we leave. Only problem is that we are going with all the in-laws, so I'll have to make sure they don't let anything slip. Right now we are thinking of picking the kids up the last day of school and heading out. It will just be hard to pack for a family of 7 for a week without anyone noticing.
Good luck with your suprise!

 

[tanyaandallie]

Last spring, we surprised our kids (DS7, DD5, DS3) with a Disney trip. They had no idea we were even going anywhere. The day before we left, I was hiding packed suitcases in my closet!

We were leaving for the airport at about 4:30am, and were planning on putting them in the car asleep and telling them on the way there once they woke up. Well, they all woke up as we put them in the car, so we decided tell them right there in our driveway.

It was such a bust... They didn't even really react! We had been looking forward for months to excited screams and disbelief, and all we got was "Oh...." accompanied by yawns. Maybe they thought they were dreaming I have video of it (if I can figure out how, I'll post it). It's a really funny memory, but I would have done it a bit different!

So, my advice, make sure they're really, really awake before you tell them!

See, this is what I'm afraid will happen! I want them to be excited and I just wonder if they would be more excited with the build up and the planning.

 

[Micka Mouse]

They think we are going to visit grandma in May-- conveniently in FL and south of Disney. They will have no idea until we pull into the resort.

Me too!!! We are going to visit DFIL for 3 nights BEFORE WDW, so we are going to wake up early, put the kids in the car and tell them that we're going to visit their papou. He lives in Madeira Beach, which is about 2 1/2 hours south of WDW. When we say goodbye to him, we're going to *pretend* that we're driving home. Then we can drive into WDW and surprise them. I can't wait (and I'm actually quite surprised that I've kept the secret this long )

 

[Laura.bora]

We surprised our kids as well last September for their birthdays. We had them open a box inside a box, inside a box, and each box contained 1 word, and the words spelled out the sentence "Guess where we are going tomorrow?" with the final box giving them directions to where their present with the answer was. My kids SO did not get it at first. They didn't believe us. But once we where there, we frequently had the kids running up to us to give us a huge hug and thank us for their birthday present. It was GREAT! Check out KOTS if you haven't already. (KEepers of the Secret) they had tons and tons of people sharing how they had pulled off their surprises. You can check out my videos of the surprise there or on my Trip report! Good luck!!

 

[tanyaandallie]

We surprised our kids as well last September for their birthdays. We had them open a box inside a box, inside a box, and each box contained 1 word, and the words spelled out the sentence "Guess where we are going tomorrow?" with the final box giving them directions to where their present with the answer was. My kids SO did not get it at first. They didn't believe us. But once we where there, we frequently had the kids running up to us to give us a huge hug and thank us for their birthday present. It was GREAT! Check out KOTS if you haven't already. (KEepers of the Secret) they had tons and tons of people sharing how they had pulled off their surprises. You can check out my videos of the surprise there or on my Trip report! Good luck!!

Where do we find the KOTS?

 

[Laura.bora]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1312518

there you go! If you are slightly emotional, make sure to have tissues ready - I spent the better part of my planning pregnant and in happy tears reading the stories!

 

[Kae]

We were in Naples FL for a vacation & we took a few days to go to disney. We had passes left for DH, DS & Me. DD was 18 mths. And they were burning a hole right in my pocket We weren't even sure we were going to do it or not. But while in Naples I got a great rate on Priceline for the Marriott now HI at DTD. So we went, we just put the kids in the car told them we were going to visit some cousins, Lucky the kids couldn't read yet. But once we got closer DS saw the Mickey shaped Electrical Towers & knew where we were. He yelled out are we by Disney. It was a great surprise.

Kae

 

[MinnieTink]

Thank you everyone for the great stories and ideas! I like the video in the car dvd idea...and the one w/ the Hershey kisses.... Keep 'em coming!

 

[mom2travel]

Our kids (DS13 & DD9) have been to WDW a number of times, but never as a surprise... until now! In a mere 8 days and 21 hours we will be at WDW and they still don't know it! They do not even know we are going anywhere

Our flight is at 7:30 am - but we always get up early for morning flights when we travel. I originally wanted to wait until we were at the airport to tell them, but DH doesn't want to cause a scene

Right now I am toying with different ideas. One is to just give them a list a night or two before we leave of items they need to pack, and not tell them where we are going - or maybe tell them we'll confirm if they guess correctly but not tell otherwise. Another is to leave clues each day about a surprise coming; although we better get moving if that is what we want to do - we're running out of days to lay out the surprise

DD is going to be jumping up and down excited !! DS sometimes is not too into the spontaneous, so we need to be careful about where the line is between springing a fun surprise and throwing him off. But they both love Disney! And they've been talking randomly about different things at WDW that they would like to do next time. Little do they know (insert evil laugh here )
Hmmm... ok, maybe we need to figure out a plan soon. Or not. The worst that can happen is we drop the surprise on them last minute and GO TO WDW!!!

 

[here757]

we suprised my twin 13 year old nieces..
they knew me ,dh and ds were going.. they thought they were going to grandmas LOL
the night before i was a total pain in the butt made them wash all their clothes and fold them.. they didnt know it but they were packing themselves..
i had been to the disney store.. and got their favorite plush animals.. and put the tickets in the arms of the animal..
they were shocked./. no idea..
especially cuz dh was behind me talking major smack about not taking bad kids with us LOL
after all said and done.. i wish i had NOT taken them..
they were spoiled and thought all time spent in orlando was to focused on them and disney...
this year its just me , dh, ds and my daughter will be around 2 months LOL
im not telling ds anything... just get in the dang car!! hes only 6 and i dont want him to say (everyday) are we going tomorrow?? he has no consept of time LOL

 

[playswithstars]

I am just starting plans for another trip to WDW in September, and my DH and I want to surprise the kids. (DD 13, DD9 and DS2) We have been quite a few times, and the girls enjoy planning with me---for a while, then I just drive them nuts! My DH wants to wait til we are literally in the car, driving down, to tell them. We would tell them we were headed somewhere else, then spring it on them. It will also be a surprise to them when some of our neighbors are also down there at the same time. Anyone ever try something like this? How did they react? Any other ideas for surprising your kids? I'd love to hear your stories! TIA!!!!

Just make sure you don't set your kids up for disappointment with the 'fake' place you tell them your going. There's a video on youtube where a mom told the kids they were going to visit somebody and about half way there she told them truth. They were very upset because they were obviously looking forward to going to this person's house.

 

[tanyaandallie]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1312518

there you go! If you are slightly emotional, make sure to have tissues ready - I spent the better part of my planning pregnant and in happy tears reading the stories!

Thanks for posting the link. I've seen that thread before but honestly had no clue what it was about!! I LOVE the Mike t-shirt. My kids must have one!!!! Of course, that means I have to buy ink for my color printer.